


Chemistry in Motion

by HeroSavesPeople



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: ? - Freeform, American Iris, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Love, Rival Scientists, Romance, Russian Barry, Sorta kinda, Steam?, WA AU, Westallen AU, prompt request
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-10-01 20:17:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20392909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeroSavesPeople/pseuds/HeroSavesPeople
Summary: Brilliant scientists Dr. Barry Allen and Dr. Iris West should have been a match made in heaven. Too bad they can't stop bickering long enough to realize it.





	Chemistry in Motion

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the anon who submitted this request! It was the perfect opportunity and excuse to write this little story that's been on my mind for two months now. <3

If Dr. Barry Allen and Dr. Iris West were chemical elements like the ones they so dearly loved, together, they would be the compound that would cause explosions. The charged energy every time they were in a room together made their colleagues uncomfortable and often resulted in an awkward shuffle out of the lab. 

Only Dr. Harrison Wells, their mentor, was brave enough to stay in the room as he barked at them to “quit the bickering and remind me why I brought you both onto the team.”

If anyone were to ask either Barry and Iris, neither would give in and admit the brilliance of the other. Dr. Allen would gripe about how he couldn’t believe he was yanked from his hometown in Moscow just to be placed alongside a stubborn and infuriating scientist who did nothing but question him at every turn. 

(Nevermind the fact that he’d also often mutter under his breath about the “beautiful and brilliant nuisance” in his native Russian tongue lest Dr. West overhear and call him out on it.)

Dr. West, on the other hand, would practically emit steam from her ears every time his name even came up. 

“Don’t even mention the puppy-eyed ‘doctor’ who keeps putting in the wrong units of measurement into the acceleration mass spectrometer. You’re in America, use the correct units!”

(Nevermind the fact that she thinks it’s stupid they were the only ones that used a different form of measurement than the rest of the world…Or that she could barely look at Dr. Allen for too long because his stupid bespectacled green eyes made her soft like the way his hair flopped when he ran his hand through it in frustration.)

The rivalry between the two scientists reached a new height when Iris found that Barry had once again changed the settings on all their machinery. It was only after she punched in the numbers before she noticed the small units in the bottom corner of the screen. 

She clenched her jaw and absolutely seethed. Whirling around, she charged at Barry as he sat hunched over a microscope.

“_What _is that matter with you?”

“Well, yesterday, it was my turtle being eaten by my cat. I had to scold her most severely,” he responded blithely in his heavy accent.

Iris reared back at that, baffled, but he continued on without looking up.

“After that, it was watching you nearly crack your neck while reaching for the graduated cylinder as I _specifically _said I would get it for you. Nearly gave me a heart attack,” he commented casually. “And well, at the moment, you’re shouting at me while I’m trying to concentrate on identifying the particles in this chemical that was shot at us by our enemies. What’s the matter with you?”

Iris spluttered, taking all that in, especially the bit where her well-being nearly gave him a heart attack, before remembering why she was irked.

“Well, _today_, and not to mention every other day, it’s _you_! You changed all the units of every single one of our equipment. Are you asking for a disaster on a nuclear level?”

He swiveled around in his chair and looked at her. “No. I am simply asking why I must compromise and yield to your every need. Try adapting to a different lifestyle.”

He swiveled back to his desk and scribbled into his notebook while muttering, “And perhaps try a different flavor of men.”

“What was that?” she demanded, cocking her head to the side.

“Oh nothing,” he said simply before she, again, heard him mutter something. “I suppose Dr. Thawne and his blondeness is quite nice too.”

“What? What the hell does _Eddie _have to do with anything? And quit being so damn passive-aggressive.”

He whirled around and looked her square in the eye. “_Fine_. Would you like assertiveness? How’s this for assertive? You are beyond infuriating,” he enunciated.

“_Me_? How am _I _infuriating? You’re the one who walked into this lab with a stick up your ass and your nose in the air since day one!”

He got up from his stool and advanced toward her. “That is _not _true. I was actually excited to work alongside you, the esteemed Dr. Iris West until I found out that you don’t exactly play well with others.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Ah, how do I say it? You’re not a team player. ‘It’s my way or the highway.’”

She scrunched up her nose. “I never said that!”

“Oh, you didn’t have to say the words explicitly. I got the picture.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“Oh, is it?” he asked in mock surprise.

She looked up at him, at those annoyingly gorgeous eyes framed by those annoyingly thick and adorable lashed and let out a frustrated growl. A small voice in the back of her head whispered that perhaps there was a little truth to his words. Iris was, after all, alone her whole life. She never knew what it was like to be part of something other than herself.

“You! You are so full of yourself if you think you have me pegged, you arrogant…accented…ass!”

He let out a harsh breath through clenched teeth. “_Chert by tebya pobral, tvoi chertovski krasivyye glaza i guby krichali na menya!_”

“_What _did you say to me?” she belted, pointing a finger at him. “What kind of person argues in a different language? How am I supposed to present my counter-argument if I can’t understand a damn word you just said to me?”

“I _said_,” he replied, jabbing a finger at her and moving closer until they were just inches apart. “‘Goddamn you and your fucking beautiful eyes and lips screaming vitriol at me’!”

Iris let out a sharp breath as her chest heaved, her eyes wide. “W-what?” she uttered in a small voice, a decidedly stark contrast to the volume she previously took on. 

“You’re a marvelous being but so goddamn stubborn it drives me absolutely _mad_,” he glared.

Iris couldn’t help but let her eyes flit to his lips where heavy puffs of air emitted. Heavy, hot air that she wanted to feel against her. Desperately. 

She looked up at him only to see that his own eyes had traveled to her lips as well. Before either knew what was happening, they charged at each other, their lips finding one another like magnets.

And they absolutely melted and fused against one another. It was electric. For the first time since they met each other, they finally yielded to the other as their bodies gave and took.

She was pliant under his hands as he brought them firmly around her to lift her and settled on top of their lab table while her leg wound around his waist and kept him firmly against her. She let her heels drop with a clatter as she practically scaled his torso. He gave into her touch, groaning under the feel of her hands traveling under his lab coat and dress shirt to the expanse of his back while his hands dove into her hair and guided her lips in time with his. 

He gasped against her skin. “Gods, I’ve dreamed of getting lost in you. Feeling your soft, shiny hair between my fingers,” he whispered into her mouth. “You really are incredible.”

His words jolted in her chest as her skin heated under his touch. 

“I don’t mind it when you change the units,” she breathed as she kissed along his cheek to his ear. 

“It makes me so hot when I see you working on those heavy machineries and when you balance equations in your head.”

She laughed breathlessly as his lips dragged across her throat, leaning her head back. “I’m sorry I wasn’t welcoming when you first arrived. I really do respect the work you do here.”

He licked her jaw and smiled against her cheek. “You were already forgiven. Besides, you’re making up for it plenty now. This is quite a welcome. Albeit late.”

They looked at each other softly for a long moment before leaning in again, unable to stay apart for long. As they explored one another, little did they know Dr. Wells was walking by. 

He did a double-take when he saw what was happening through the lab window before he looked away and rolled his eyes. 

“Fucking finally,” he grumbled as he walked away, leaving the love birds to their private moment.


End file.
